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Where there’s a will there’s a way…..Acknowledgement – My handmade/homemade feeders are inspired by my friend Paul Fisk of Fiskys Fantastic Feeders. His words of encouragement and valuable advice have helped me significantly to reach a stage where I can build feeders of any size to suit my fishing needs, thanks mate!!

I’d been looking for a suitable mesh to make my own feeders for quite some time but then Swifty gave me a huge feeder made from a plastic hair curler weighing some 70g and I thought hang on that’s easier than forming mesh into a cylinder shape so I trawled the internet for hair curlers but they aren’t that easy to find until you realise that they now come with a layer of fluffy stuff on them!! Once you realise that it’s like buses and you spot them everywhere, so the starting point is to get some Velcro Curlers also called Velcro Rollers which come in various diameters and coloured velcro, the are however all of a similar length of around 65mm but more of that later. As for where to buy them you’ll be surprised but Home Bargain shops, Poundland etc they all do them and I’d expect to pay no more than a pound for a pack of 4 to 8 rollers depending on the size you require.

Once you’ve got your velcro rollers the first thing to do is to remove the velcro which is glued along one side so take a pair of sharp scissors and cut it off carefully. This will serve two purposes firstly we’ve no need for the velcro unless you can think of a use for it and secondly family members and neighbours will stop looking at you like you’ve lost the plot.

This will leave the plastic roller which is a translucent colour and you can then decide whether or not to paint it a more ‘manly’ black, green, camo, sand, textured or whatever you want or feel will not stick out like a sore thumb on the bottom of a lake or riverbed. I personally think it’s irrelevant on rivers and the jury is out across the different genre of angler, on the one hand your super stealth carper will buy a camo tea mug if they think it’ll give them the edge and put more big carps on the bank but footage of hard feeding barbel has shown them almost attacking a bait dropper as it hits bottom as they’re more interested in its contents than what’s to follow shortly after.

I’ve experimented with a stone effect spray which I can only say left the feeder looking like an explosion in a sand factory, maybe I should have primed the plastic surface first but anyway suffice to say it didn’t adhere very well. On Swifty’s advice I went for a cheaper tin of BBQ spray, it dries to a black satin finish and covers the entire roller easily enough, do a dozen or so at a time and your well on your way to a nice batch of feeders.

Next is the lead weight – now sometime ago I bought a handy little book called Lead Casting for Pleasure and Profit by Gordon T. Horton and originally it was to look at making my own lead weights but as I soon realised there are a number of drawbacks to casting lead firstly it’s a valuable commodity and not that easy to get hold of these days and secondly it can be quite dangerous particularly if there’s any moisture in the mould.

Instead I decided on buying a sheet of lead flashing and with a bit of cunning and some basic metalwork produce a lead weight of various widths and weights to suit my needs. This is more readily available than scrap lead and I found a seller on Ebay who sells it in handy sizes enough to make around 15 x 2oz feeders for around £6 delivered, the sheet is grade 4 and approx 1.8mm thick.

Before we move onto cutting the lead sheet into strips I should mention the basic tools used to make the feeders are shown in the photo below, you don’t necessarily need them all although the most useful one I’ve found is a small vice, this helps flatten and shape the lead as well as hold it firm when filing.

The first strip will need to be around 100mm long this will form the strap that’ll fold into the feeder at either end. Cutting the lead couldn’t be easier with either a strong pair of scissors or tin snips the width will determine the initial weight of the feeder but a 20mm wide strip will weigh in at around 38g or 1.3oz

Next if you need a heavier feeder just cut further strips at 60mm long and use a suitable epoxy glue to bond them to the strap. You’ll notice I’ve rounded off the corners in the photo above, this is to ensure there are no sharp edges that could lift a scale or worse whilst playing the fish.

The finished lead should look something like this and whilst I haven’t tested it under water for long periods of time the glue may at some point fail and the lead strips delaminate so to protect against that I’ll add a piece of heat shrink tubing around all the lead strips.

That just leaves the final part to make which is the wire and swivel to connect the feeder to the clip or mainline.

There are number of ways to connect the feeder some shop bought feeders come with rubber O rings others use power gum, some have a normal swivels others use a big eye swivel and some dispense with a swivel and just have an hole the end of a plastic boom.

It’s down to personal preference and how you want to connect the feeder to the mainline. In my case I wanted a stiff link and a normal size 8 swivel as I use a free running clip swivel so I can change feeders or swap to a lead without breaking down the end tackle.

The materials needed to make mine are shown in the photo below, I had the stainless steel wire in stock for making the eyes on handmade floats and initially tried it doubled up through the eye of the swivel the used a drill to put an even twist in it but a pair of pliers and a bit of patients would produce the same result.

I then used a piece of rigid PVC tubing that was slightly smaller inside diameter than the swivel body and feed the wire through pushing the swivel home to leave just the eye exposed. Then by twisting the wire back on itself you form a loop and with a bit of work with a pair of pliers form this into a triangle shape wide enough to go over the width of the lead strap. I’ve found that using a pair of long nose pliers or even a pair of forceps inside the loop and opening them out will form the shape you need as well as test the strength of the connection.

Fisky uses trace wire and a crimp which sits behind the folded strap and then rig sleeve to the swivel so there are a number of options and you’ll settle on one that suits your needs. I’ve since found a plastic coated green wire meant for tying garden plants again in the pound shop and the benefit of that is it’s a little more flexible than the stainless steel wire and not shiny!! I still form the loop but then pass the tag ends through the loop and push them back up the tube making for a very secure joint.

The feeders as mentioned earlier are 65mm long but to make a smaller feeder simply cut the roller using scissors or snips and file or sand down any sharp edges, obviously the lead strap will be shorter and the additional weights shorter too. I like a lighter feeder for my Avon rod and I’m using a few weighing no more than an ounce at present as the river I’m fishing is low and clear so there’s no need for anything bigger. It’s all well and good building big heavy feeders but you must match the maximum weight to the casting limit of the rod, a 3oz feeder of the size I’m using here will weigh 4 or 5oz when fully loaded, I can certainly tell the difference when I use a 12’ heavy feeder rod compared to the 10’ Avon rod.

I’ve made a range of feeders recently that would have cost around £1.50 to £2 each but I’d be surprised if my DIY efforts worked out to more than 50p each in the long run so it’ll make the pain of losing one in snags a little easier on the wallet.

In testing the feeders performed very well, they are easy enough to fill with a groundbait and pellet ‘sandwich’ and cast well, on the retrieve they are easy to bring to the surface and the swivel prevents twisting the mainline unlike some cheaper made feeders. I’ve even pulled free from a snag and recovered the feeder undamaged along with said snag, a new PB I’m going to call ‘stick’

Final thoughts – Some anglers don’t use feeders at all and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that but I believe in the summer months laying a scent trail for the fish to follow will lead them to you hook bait it’s therefore important to cast accurately every time and for your feeder to hold station even when empty to keep the hook bait in the baited area. The ground bait of choice for me is the Hemp & Banana or Hemp & Halibut DINNERbell, it is pre-moistened and doesn’t need water adding on the bank which in turn means anything I don’t use is put back in the bag, it doesn’t go off so it’s really economical.

There comes a time in the summer when the barbel are in obliging mood and most of the regular swims will produce a fish or two on any evening I happen to wander down. I can drive to the river in around fifteen minutes so consider myself very fortunate to be so close and have an understanding family that let me disappear for a few hours most summer evenings.
One evening for the sake of doing something different I decided to dig out an old centre pin I bought over forty years ago, load up some fresh line and put it on the rod, except the reel foot was to long to fit the reel seat of my modern rod! I have a collection of old Hardy fibreglass rods from the seventies, their Fibalite range, and so I selected my 10ft Hardy Swimfeeder which has sliding reel fittings that amply accommodated the ‘pin. Amazing what a lightweight outfit that made. That evening proved a blank but one thing I did realise was that a bit more rod length would be an advantage should I hook a barbel and need to keep it away from the marginal weed growth.
The next time out I had arranged to meet, Nigel, a friend I don’t see much of and on arrival at the river we found Rob the bailiff on his evening patrol. He told us it was a busy evening and if we wanted a double swim we had better walk all the way up to the weir at the top of the backwater.
On arrival I gave Nigel the choice of position as he is unable to fish as regularly as me and he chose the upstream swim where the water is still foaming from its journey over the weir sill. Having blanked on my first outing with the ‘pin I had decided to cover my options and take a fixed spool set up as well as the ‘pin which I mounted to an old 11ft self built fibreglass rod.
The fixed spool outfit was cast to the far side a short distance downstream from some enticing overhanging willow branches. The centre pin outfit was cast into the slacker water where it would be out of the way should I get a fish on either rod. After a bit of catching up and general banter the bait on the far side was taken with a pretty impressive bite and the other rod was shoved out of the way to prevent lines getting crossed. Shortly afterwards the barbel below had been landed, weighed at 9lb 9oz, photographed and returned. At
this point of the season I was still waiting for my first double and this one came up just seven ounces short.

Both rods were re-cast and as my last capture had come pretty close to getting around my other line I swung the terminal tackle attached to the centre pin rod just a yard or two out from a small reed bed just downstream from me. The other outfit was recast in the general area that had just been successful but became stuck fast in a solid snag which I had to break out of. I had the rod across my lap setting up a new rig when the now forgotten centre pin screamed into life.
Fish on! and by the bend in the rod a good one although fibreglass does transmit a different feel. This one was determined to make its way downstream quickly and there was not a great deal I could do about it. The noise from the check on the reel was communicating this to me and I was now having to follow it with rod held high over a nettle bed at which point it buried itself in a weed bed. Steady pressure was applied and it slowly yielded, with me now below it I found a convenient place where it could be netted.
While all this was going on the last remnants of daylight were disappearing and while the fish was resting in the net I gathered up the unhooking mat, tape measure and put on my head torch. Once safely on the mat and in the beam of my torch I recognised this fish straight away. “It’s Arfur” I said to a puzzled Nigel. I then explained that “Arfur” is a fish I had caught the previous October at 11lb 14oz (P.B.) when it had a fresh wound on its tail which we believe to be the result of an otter attack resulting in the loss of the upper part of the tail fin. In the interim period there had been two reported recaptures in December (11lb 8oz) and June (10lb 8oz).
My trusty Avon scales confirmed the weight at 10lb 14oz, my first double of the season and a gain on its last reported capture but still well below the top weight at which I had caught it. Unfortunately the photo below is not very well posed but the tail damage can just be made out.

So, first fish on the ‘pin and a double plus a back up near double, my only regret was that my companion had only a small chub to show for his evenings efforts. Darkness had now fallen and to comply with to club rules we had to leave the fishery and a pint in the village pub which always keeps a good selection of real ales topped the evening off.
The following evening was Friday and all the family were off out to the theatre so dinner was on the table early giving me the opportunity to get out a bit sooner than normal. The only downside to this was rain was forecast and so unusually for me I dug out my umbrella and deposited my rod, rod rest and net handle along with the brolly in a quiver (normally I travel as light as possible).
There is a spot halfway up the fishery where a large tree overhangs the river stretching at least half the distance to the far bank. It is known as The Mink Tree although I have never found out why other than assuming a mink has been seen there regularly. It is a shallow swim at the end of a glide with a slight deviation to the right as you look downstream and dropping a bait under the overhanging branches had caught me a few fish thus far this season.
I rarely fish two rods and it is certainly not a two rod swim but I had this swim in mind when I left home so with just the one rod I set up well away from the edge and stabbed the umbrella pole in the ground. I swung the bait in place put the rod on the rest and settled back in my chair with one eye on the developing rain clouds and the other on my mobile phone. I had just started to compose a text to Mark a fellow Barbel Society member and club Bailiff when the ‘pin sang to me and line peeled of the spool. The phone was dropped to the ground and my thumb gripped the spool rim to slow down the rate at which line was being taken. I have lost a good fish in this swim by allowing it to get too far downstream so I bent the rod hard into the fish which thankfully decided to change direction and take the upstream route. By the time it had thrashed its tail on the surface at the sign of the net a few times the rain had started as a gentle drizzle.
I carried out the post capture formalities then searched for my my dropped phone in the grass, took a photo on the unhooking mat and returned the fish. The umbrella was opened and I sat back satisfied with an early catch and sent this photo and message to Mark.

“Hi Mark. The best way to catch barbel. First chuck, after 5 mins! 6.04/64cm”

Those of you who have read my previous ramblings will have come across my “Five Minute Rule” and this one held true to the rule by being good enough to pick up my bait within the stated time.
The light rain had turned into a fairly heavy down pour and the only way I could keep it off me was to keep hold of the umbrella pole in a vertical position. I figured the swim would benefit from a rest as the fish I had just landed had done a good job of beating the surface to a foam with its tail.
The picture below shows how tight this swim is and the hotspot is under the tree close in to the bank.

Rainy Outlook! Waiting for the weather to clear

I am not sure how to describe the sound as the line leaves the reel when centre pin fishing but I do know it is the best sound in angling. No electronic alarm system will ever compare.
An hour or so had passed, the rain had slackened to a light drizzle so I re-baited and plopped another bait in just where the foliage touches the water and allowed the light lead to get taken by the current under the shade of the tree.
I am not a big fan of sitting under an umbrella and as I could no longer hear rain hitting the fabric above my head it was removed from the now softened ground. My bottom had hardly made contact with my chair when the rod tip went over accompanied by that wonderful indescribable sound.
This fish meant business and the spool hit maximum revs and sound levels as it took off downstream. With a soft fibreglass rod it was difficult to put as much pressure on as I would have liked but with the rod tip lowered almost to water level it slowed down and line began to be gained. Once I got the fish level with me I saw it for the first time realising it was another good one and wondered if this could be a double like the previous evening’s fish. I would have to wait a little while to find out because it had seen the thick bed of bullrushes slightly upstream and had every intention of getting its nose in between the thick stems that were at full summer height and strength.
From my downstream position I was able to guide it clear and after a couple more dives for the river bed I positioned the net and allowed the fish to drift downstream into the billowing mesh.
As the bank has a steep drop off I had to put my chair over the net handle while it rested in the margins and I gathered the unhooking paraphernalia. I needed no telling this was another double! Two on consecutive evenings and this one went an ounce under 11lb.

Two tens in two days convinced me in no time there was something in this centre pin lark and with confidence high I felt the change in method was adding a new dimension to an already enjoyable experience.
It also encouraged me to take a look at some swims that had not been productive for me in the past so on subsequent outings I would take both fixed spool and centre pin outfits but as the light diminished I would invariably wind in the fixed spool and concentrate on the
‘pin. The fish generally came in that period I call “Barbel o’clock” which is the last half an hour of daylight when your rod tip becomes hard to see, the bats come out of their daytime roost and an isotope is needed to confirm movement of the rod tip. To be honest this was superfluous as I could have closed my eyes and just waited for the reel to sing to me.
The ‘pin was proving so successful that I adopted this as a single rod approach and concentrated my efforts around “barbel o’clock”. Most evenings I tried a different spot and once my swim selection had been made I would introduce a few free offerings, make sure my tackle was all tidily arranged, swing the bait into position, usually close in and wait expectantly.
For the next few weeks I caught consistently with only a couple of blanks and could almost set my watch by the bites. I was noting the times and two consecutive evenings I had captures separated by three minutes from one day to the next.
Nigel, who had been my lucky mascot previously joined me one evening at the end of August and found me doing my best to hide in an area we call The Reed Bed for obvious reasons that can be seen below.

This was not a swim I had caught in before so I suggested to Nigel that we wander downstream a little and fish a short stretch that had been successful the last few evenings. The Willows as the name infers has a couple of willow trees overhanging the far bank and while in previous seasons I had been successful with chub from there it remained a bogey area as far as barbel were concerned until recently. As I have more opportunity to fish I let Nigel take the pick of the three Willows swims and he chose the upstream one so I
dropped in the one below. I was really wishing for a fish for Nigel so kept my eye on what he was doing and probably spent more time looking at his rod tips than my own. I didn’t need to see my rod tip because the moment Barbel o’clock arrived the check on my reel sang to me (still struggling to find a more descriptive word) and this cracking nine pounder was soon being weighed, measured and photographed.

9lb 4oz taken bang on Barbel o’clock

It was pretty much dark by this time and I packed away while Nigel pressed on until we were in danger of breaking the night fishing rule, sadly he finished the evening fishless.
A week later and another friend sent a text to say he was going out and was I going to be
fishing that evening? As it happened I was, so I duly met up with David on the bank and by the time I arrived he had already had one barbel around five pounds. We chatted for a while and I recounted how I had lost a very powerful fish in the same swim two weeks previously when fishing the opposite bank.
I went upstream a short distance and settled into my chosen swim. Within a few minutes my mobile phone rang and David’s number was shown on the display.
“John?”, “Yes”,
“I have just landed a rather nice double, are you far away?” “On my way”

David was, in fact, less than a hundred yards downstream and I was with him by the time he had rested the fish and removed the hook. David trusted me to do the photography on his camera and below is his fish, weighed at 11lbs 4oz.
We have a closed group on Facebook which enables us to share information, do a bit of bragging and some light hearted leg pulling. Once this picture was posted it became recognised as a fish that had been caught on numerous occasions over a period of a few years and was recognisable. At one time the tail fin was split and the healed damage is evident in this photograph as well as a black spot below the right eye along with another just outside the lip on the same side.
Moving on five days and once again I was on the bank late in the evening at Tommy’s Peg under a clear sky and a full moon. This gave me the opportunity of staying a little bit later and for some reason I always feel confident at this stage of the lunar cycle. The farmer was gathering bales of hay with spotlights blazing on his tractor and making very informal stacks. I was a bit concerned about the noise and disturbance but need not have worried because shortly after he had moved to the far side of the river off went the centre pin and I was into a good fish.
I needed the head torch once I had the fish on the mat and as soon as I looked it over realised I was not long since I had seen the same fish. The same evidence of a split tail and tell tale black spots made me realise this was the fish David has caught just those few days back. I weighed it at 11lb 6oz and I took a measurement of 75cm.

Tell tale features confirming identity

Over the course of this season I have studied a lot of photographs of barbel caught from our club water and have noticed the prevalence of black spots which appear around the fish’s eyes and gill covers. Because these appear to be relatively common I would not accept a single black spot as a positive identifying feature but where they appear as multiples I would suggest they can be used to identify individuals. Further correlation as in the photos above where other features are present would give a very high, if not certain, confirmation of identity.
Some days I just get the feeling I need to be on the riverbank fishing due to one of those hard to quantify feelings you are going to be successful. I don’t know if it is something to do with the weather, water conditions (I drive over the river every day on my journey to and from work) recent catches or just a sixth sense.
Whatever it is I found myself with just a small window of time a couple of evenings later and due to the shortening days I would only get an hour at the most but I had to get out there. Although I had not fished it for a while I was drawn back to The Mink Tree swim and I noted the time to be 7.26pm as I put my rod into the rest following the first cast under the inviting foliage which brushed the water surface. As the light went I instinctively reached for my bait bag, broke up a few pieces and dropped them under my rod tip figuring they would hit the bottom around where my bait was lying. A rattle on the rod tip followed by another more persistent one produced a good sized dace. Back in with another bait and a small sprinkling of freebies and at 8.05pm the rod tip hooped over and line came off the reel accompanied by the now familiar noise.
Five minutes later and following a spirited fight in which the fish was well downstream of me for a short time I was staring at an old friend. It was “Arfur” who I had last seen five weeks previously but amazingly (and I double checked) now weighing 11lbs 15oz, so becoming my new P.B.

“Arfur” the third time we had met and back up to top weight.

Back she went and I started packing away my gear. Then just as I was about to set off Rob the bailiff came by and I related the capture to him now regretting it had not occurred a few minutes later when I could have asked him to take a trophy shot of me holding the fish.
I must, perhaps, get into the habit of mounting my camera on a bank stick in readiness for taking selfies but most often my roving style does not suit this.
This has been a reflective catch up from the summer when I was fortunate enough to be able to be out fishing on evenings during the working week. The remainder of September and up to mid October were fairly quiet on the barbel front when we had a decent flush of water through. The next period of significant activity is covered in my Oktober Fest article.
So I am now truly converted to the centre pin and always consider if I can use a ‘pin as my first method of attack when gathering my gear to load in the car.
2015 has just arrived as I write and looking to the future I want to try some trotting, initially for chub which are more likely than barbel to take a moving bait in the colder months. So barbel on the float is a plan for next summer.
I have just missed the first weekend since the season started last June as reports coming in to me indicated nothing being caught and daytime temperatures were not rising above freezing point.
We shall see what the remainder of the season throws at us but hopefully I will have something to write about.
After that we have the river close season to suffer but I will be out fluff chucking for trout from April 1st possibly trying for tench on a still water as spring gives way to early summer.

Colin Culley finds a traditional approach to modern baits.

It will appear odd to many that a “Traditional angler” and by that I mean, I choose to use cane and pins rather than the new high tech stuff could be using products from a company like Laguna. After all is said and done they produce products which are highly innovative in there design and function. I think it was this completely new approach which attracted me when I came across their web site at the beginning of 2014. It is often forgotten that some of the names most revered amongst traditionalist the likes of Walker and Stone were never slow in coming forward with new ideas to improve their already impressive catches.

During the Spring and Summer I enjoyed a lot of success with DinnerBell Sweet Chilli and Garlic either as a ground bait supplement mixed with brown crumb and Mole hill dirt, full of amino as you will see I do like to experiment, or directly on a mini method feeder with a 6mm pellet as hook bait. Both methods resulted in some lovely days with multiple catches of Tench and Crucians.

Keen to explore new ideas I started to use fake Corn skins soaked in Krill SAC Juice with a 6mm Krill pellet pushed inside which improved the number of takes even more on the mini method rig. As for the float rig I tend to use 3 small Gilt tail worms the majority of time for both Tench and Crucians, One morning I had the idea to dip the worms in a watered down Krill solution which resulted in my best Tench last year of 9-2 and best Crucian of 3-3. I carried this method forward into the Autumn and dipped both Prawns and Lobs to enjoy plenty of Perch of 2lb and a best of 3-5.

With the onset of Winter and frosty mornings it was time to go seeking the Chevin. I had read all about and seen the video of Christian making cheese paste using the Laguna Blue Cheese SAC juice however I had used the Peter Stone recipe with great success for more years than I wish to remember so why change and could I add Banana? Eventually curiosity got the better of me and an order was placed.

When I made the initial batch my first reaction was how simple it was to make compared to my old method ,which was a real pain, secondly because of the simplicity it would be consistent every time. Without doubt this has been my most successful Winter on the Kennet targeting Chub. Even on the coldest of days I could normal get at least one tug on my simple touch ledgering rig. My obsession to experiment led me to a couple of conclusions during the winter, when making the posh paste version with Banana SAC juice a combination of Gorgonzola and Bleu d’Auvergne cheeses definitely improved my catch rate which I put down to the natural sweetness of both complementing the Banana.

During the last two weeks of the season I also started to flavour crust, I cannot claim to have come up with this idea as a good friend and superb Chub angler has been doing it for years with other products. I simply cut a tin loaf from any supermarket into 1” chunks leaving some flake on each peice then put a tiny amount of Blue Cheese SAC juice into a large sealable sandwich bag and rubbed it all around to coat the inside of the bag. Finally I threw the crust in and placed it in the freezer overnight to suck in all the additive and flavour.

On the river I found the Chub loved this and will using again next winter together with the paste.

A new river beckoned…..

So how did I end up here? It’s a question I often ask myself whilst staring at a motionless tip but as I’ve said before I enjoy angling and it’s more than just catching fish, for me it’s about getting out into the open countryside to enjoy the surroundings and unwind from the weekly grind so how did I end up fishing the river Dove? In order to answer that question I’ll take a brief look back at the autumn of 2014 and also recall my first session on the river Dove that I wrote about in my Blog at the time.

Towards the end of 2014 I decided I needed a change from the weekly sessions on my local river Dane, when I say local it’s still a seventy mile round trip however as it’s mostly all motorway it only takes around thirty five minutes door to door. I’d spent most of my weekly sessions for the past three years on one particular beat called Daisybank and had plenty of chub and the odd barbel but as the season moved on I started to struggle, familiar swims which previously almost guaranteed results stopped producing or would make me feel grateful for a solitary 3lb chub after twelve hours of walking it’s banks. I was going through what I call a ‘dry’ period and there was nothing drier than my landing net.

As we all tend to do I analysed the situation in an effort to find out why it had suddenly ‘dropped off’ my tactics (rightly or wrongly) remained consistent, I was using a 10′ Hardy Avon rod and either my trusty centre pin or an equally reliable Mitchell 300, 6lb line straight through to a six 6 hook with either Laguna ‘Posh’ cheese paste or a lump of meat for bait. Occasionally, if conditions allowed, I’d trott bread flake through a tempting swim and very occasionally it would oblige with a nicely conditioned chub but during the autumn months of 2014 I started a series a blank sessions that drove me to start looking else where. Whether it was the resident tarka, the occasional sighting of the black winged death, the cheeky mink or just bad angling I needed a break and a new challenge.

The river Dove is twice as far again and takes me around an hour and a half to travel the eighty miles or so each way but I needed a change of scenery as well as change of luck. Looking around I found a number of clubs offering various beats but after some sound advice from Congleton based Rob Swindells I joined Burton Mutual AA who control 9 miles of the Dove on both banks from Tutbury to its confluence with the river Trent and then a few miles downstream of the Trent giving me more than enough to get my chevin chasing underway in earnest. So at the end of November I took advantage of a half year membership and joined the club. Soon after I was sitting on the uppermost beat of the clubs stretch, the weir further upstream denoting the boundary and I must say I was very impressed, with Tutbury castle as a backdrop who wouldn’t be!!

I headed upstream and found a very tempting swim with a smooth glide. Dropping in I sat back for five minutes and just observed my new surroundings. The sheep in the field bounded around in between munching grass, bullocks turned up to have a nosey at the new bloke and flocks of geese performed aerial manoeuvres overhead.

Another angler wading upstream of me flicked his fly with rhythmic precision and although I did consider walking up to have a chat my eagerness to cast was too great so I set about it with a ceremoniously overhead flick, my fishing on the Dove had begun.

A fresh cheese paste was made the night before and felt just right as a first offering to the chub, it hit the crease with a ‘plop’ however I’d under estimated the pace of the river and was soon dragged into the nearside bank. I reeled in and stepped up to a 30g black cap feeder filled with hemp and as I recast to the same spot, it stayed in position allowing for a slight bend in the tip.

A reassuring pluck was registered and like a gun fighter in the wild west my hand hovered over the rod ready to strike, it pulled around and I lifted into a fish. It lept almost immediately from the water and I could see it wasn’t a chub but it still fought well and within a few seconds was in the net. I’d been fishing less than fifteen minutes and had my first Dove fish, I wasn’t use to that kind of start and thinking back I should have guessed the trout were in residence after all the clue was staring me in the face fifty yards upstream.

I probably stayed too long in the swim but I wasn’t in a rush and had the rest of the day ahead of me but after a further half hour I went in search of the weir.

The weir marks the upper limit of the beat and also the start of nine miles of Derbyshire countryside for me to explore. I wanted to fully appreciate the river from start to finish, I knew that wasn’t achievable in a day but I have all the time in the world for this kind of river, wider than the Dane overall but of a similar depth and a complete unknown which is why I’m fishing it.

I’d researched my surroundings and felt acquainted with their form, I had my bearings and Google earth is a powerful tool but you have to be careful not to make any assumptions particularly when it comes to boundaries and barbed wire fences!!

The shingle beach provided a stable footing for my chair but I stood near the edge and rolled a piece of free lined meat around in the turbulent water hoping to get a quick take from an unsuspecting barbel. Eventually my lack of sleep caught up with me so I attached a 2oz grippa and cast it forty yards or so into the heart of the weir, propping the rod on the rest I tucked the long cork handle under my arm hooked my finger around the line and drifted off into a much-needed sleep. An hour later I was woken by the sound of panting just behind my right ear, disoriented for a moment I turned and came face to face with drooling dog who’d come over to inspect this strange man sat in the middle of his patch. The beat is popular with dog walkers who nod knowingly if you catch their eye and seem to be a friendly enough bunch.

I reeled in only to find the meat had long gone, perhaps it had been plucked carefully away by a giant chub who managed to avoid the hook, if it had I wouldn’t have known a thing.

Walking back to the car I stayed close to the river’s edge scanning potential swims for my next visit, every twenty yards I could see a ‘chubby’ looking spot, the Dove was quickly getting my seal of approval.

I decided to use the last hour of light to find a second car park downstream and set off in the general direction but it was soon apparent that the sat nav didn’t know where it was going either and I ending up driving around in circles until eventually it was pitch black.

Heading back to just below the road bridge I dropped onto the next beat. It too screamed chub and had a bit more pace judging by the occasional procession of foam. Mid way was as good as any and within a couple of minutes I was casting a rod length out and letting the flow take the feeder to a natural resting place. I poured a coffee and watched the starlite, it flickered slightly and then pulled steadily around a nicely conditioned chub of 3lb 12oz was the result.

Pleased with the chub I decided the far bank needed a run through so I punched the feeder across and this time held onto the rod. The cheese paste had barely come to a halt when I felt a familiar tingling through the line. I didn’t hesitate and stuck firmly to my right but no resistance was forthcoming and I reeled in quickly to recast. Just under the rod tip I caught a glimpse of a fish and much to my surprise my second chub was banked. At only eight inches in length it was a chublet but it was the first chublet I’d seen since Bicton on the river Severn back in September and it signified a healthy river with a growing population, result!!

My final couple of hours were spent wandering downstream where eventually I came across another angler, a brief chat confirmed my location and he said there were a couple of anglers beyond him so I gathered my tackle and headed off to find a vacant peg. My first session ended without a further fish but I knew at that point I’d made the right decision.

Since the end of November I’ve been back to the river Dove almost every week and although I’ve explored another beat called Horseshoe Meadow there is still miles of river to wet my eager line in. I often pour over the maps mid-week planning where to go next so on the 3rd of January I decided to revisit the section I first fished at the end of November.

Although the weather was less than ideal I set up under my brolly and as usually flicked a lump of paste out into the steady flow, the bank was higher than I’d had liked so I kept the rod tip low and and left the bail arm off allowing the bait to free line through the swim. Just after I snapped the bail arm shut the tip gave a little tug and as I struck the familiar thump thump was felt and I was in on only my second cast of the session.

The Avon rod hooped over but always felt in control and as I’d upgraded to 8lb line straight through I wasted no time in playing the fish into the waiting net. On the bank I gave a loud shout of “Oh yes!!” as I realised I could have my first chub of over 5lb, it looked ever inch a five and it’s girth was bigger than anything I’d handled before. It had taken the bait right down the back of it’s throat and I needed to use the forceps to reach the hook, clearly an opportunist that had taken the Laguna ‘Posh’ cheese paste on the move mid-water.

I resisted the temptation to weigh it immediately and instead rested it in the margins, it didn’t take long before it was thrashing about impatiently so I lifted up the scales and let out another shout of delight as they settled on 5lb 4oz, a new PB and a significant milestone in my chub fishing to date.

So how far do you go? For me the enjoyment I get from fishing somewhere as scenic as the river Dove can’t be measured in miles and I’ll continue to do so for the foreseeable future!!

Having had a disaster with my bait fridge in the garage and losing all my prepared paste baits I made up a fresh batch today in advance of a quick sortie to the river this afternoon.

As previously I followed Christian Barker’s recipe using SAC Blue Cheese additive along with the other ingredients shown on the video here: http://www.lagunafp.eu/videos.html

Although the air temperature was a lot more comfortable today (25/1/15) I figured the water would still be cold so I left the barbel gear at home and set off with my fresh paste and a bag of bread that had been whizzed up in a food processor with a little grated rind of parmesan cheese.

The bread was dampened enough to make it stick in a fairly solid ball which I would introduce into the swim.

My first swim produced a lot of knocks but nothing solid so I wandered off to try a couple more which were completely bite less. With little time left instinct told me to return to the first swim as it had produced some indication and had been baited.

First cast and this beauty took a liking the the SAC Juice enhanced cheese paste.

With more cold weather on the way it would seem chub time is here. I’ll keep you posted.

Acquiring my Level 2 coaching licence early in 2004 was always, it seemed, going to be a natural progression. Having assisted at many of Gipping Valley Angling Club’s ‘Have a Go’ days, I was then heavily involved in setting up the club’s Junior Academy. In 2007, GVAC coaches took on the additional responsibility of managing the young Suffolk County squad. Proving more than an occasional distraction from domestic coaching commitments; this sees us continue to travel up and down the country with teams of young anglers of varying ages as they compete in national events on canals, commercial fisheries and occasionally, on rivers.

Left: Another enjoyable Junior Academy day with GVAC!

My own development as a club and occasional open match angler for some 35 years or so was always going to be tempered by my coaching commitments. My departure from work in the financial services industry, somewhat earlier than planned in 2009, coincided with an opportunity to develop an after-school angling group with Springfield Junior School in Ipswich. In 2014, I delivered my 200th school coaching session, with interest snowballing after the initial projects proved so popular with both pupils and staff. Fishing it seems, continues to have a positive effect on pupils’ behaviour, whilst also ‘contributing to a healthier lifestyle’ (the latter being a direct quote from an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted report in 2014 for one of the schools I work with. Having worked with around 18 schools in total, I’ve also delivered projects for pupil referral units (PRUs) and local authorities. After becoming a professional coach in 2009 therefore, I chose to prioritise coaching ahead of catching; I am after all, paid to do the former, not the latter!

I relish the challenge of coaching teams in national competition. I’ve always looked to incorporate relevant coaching philosophies when I can and I’m absolutely convinced that ‘the aggregation of marginal gains’ (Sir Dave Brailsford CBE) and ‘critical non-essentials’ (Sir Clive Woodward OBE) have a part to play in team fishing, just as they do in more mainstream sports.

Left: a good day at the office for the young Suffolk County squad!

My coaching led to a change in direction in my own angling ‘career’ in 2011 when short session chubbing on my local River Gipping became a means by which I could dovetail some fishing in of my own, as I became busier with coaching. An invitation to be become part of the team of consultants at LaGuna/Pristex was an unexpected, but nonetheless, pleasant surprise. I can only think that, as a coach, I may be able to bring something a little different to the table; I’m certain it wasn’t my prowess with an Avon rod or my match fishing CV that caught the MD’s attention!

Soon after accepting the invitation, I began looking to incorporate company products in my own fishing and when coaching. I’ve always been one to flavour baits, even if only to make them a little different to the guy on the next peg. I have to say though, that experiences have convinced me beyond doubt, of the effectiveness of particular flavours for certain species of fish.

Chance catches of colourful river perch when after chub, saw me look to fish for them specifically when the opportunity arose, and also endeavour to introduce school groups to the species. A small, greedy perch was often the first fish encountered by many an angler of a certain age. Sadly, these days it’s often a much larger carp that a youngster banks on their first trip; all the more reason to target ‘stripeys’ on occasion with school groups, I feel. In defence of the carp, they do provide guaranteed sport more often than not and the history of the species certainly sparks the interest of pupils and teachers, I’ve found. Fishing for hard fighting, ever-hungry, ‘match-sized’ carp has also provided ample opportunity for many pupils to try out some of the Pristex SAC™ juice bait activators.

Looking to challenge myself as a coach has seen me take small school groups along the Gipping, with chub as a target species. With a stealthy, quiet approach often required to bank a ‘chevin’ or two, catching them to order from a stretch of river that’s popular with ramblers and dog walkers is certainly not always easy – a ball or two of Christian Barker’s ‘posh’ cheese paste in the bait bag however, shortens the odds considerably!

A colleague once said to me that becoming qualified is just the start of a coach’s development. I’ve observed coaches delivering sessions, among others, in boxing, gymnastics and hockey. When networking with Suffolk Sport and working with schools, I’ve been privileged to see some very good coaches deliver enjoyable and informative sessions. They say it can take 20 years to become a good coach. I’ve also heard that coaching angling is the second-hardest sport to coach, behind sailing. I’m happy therefore, to continue to learn and hopefully, progress and develop. I may appreciate many aspects of sports psychology, but I’m no scientist. I have however, grasped the basic fundamentals of how SAC™ juice bait activators and L-amino REACT™ for instance work. Using these liquids and coating powders give me confidence and that surely, is an absolutely vital ingredient!

Right: Callum with his first river chub, taken from the Gipping on ‘posh’ cheese paste

Left: This carp picked up a piece of corn soaked in L-amino REACT™ and was banked on a float rod and centre pin set-up

WANT TO BECOME AN ANGLING COACH?

Go to the ‘HOW DO I BECOME AN ANGLING COACH?’ page on the Angling Trust’s website. Bursaries are often available through county sports partnerships (CSPs) and the Trust (contact your Regional Officer). Relevant workshops (Safeguarding and Protecting Children, First Aid etc.) are available through the Trust’s courses and through CSPs.

(Mark’s book, County Trials was published on Kindle on 1st January 2015 and is available in paperback from the author)

Well since my week off at the end of October into the beginning of November we have had extra water following the rain we had all been waiting for.

I would like to tell you I have been searching out the slack water dropping in a piece of smelly meat and having the barbel climbing up my line but sadly this has not been the case. I have to confess floodwater fishing is my achilles heel and while I heard of a fish or two coming out here and there my baits remained untroubled by our whiskered friends on short sessions for both days on two successive weekends.

I tried the roving approach on the first weekend, dodging between swims every half-hour and on the second weekend I adopted a more static approach but fishing the full width of the river, from under my own bank, through the middle and under the far bank cover.

The conditions seemed right with a decent air temperature, water temperature holding up, extra water but I didn’t like the look of the turbidity.

A couple of foot on and coloured. Some like it but not my favourite conditions.

Mark our club bailiff had a reasonable evening on the main river catching some chub on cheese but with the conditions as they were I just thought there was a chance of a barbel or two.

Nigel Bryans another club member and local angler of some notoriety (three 16lb plus barbel in a two hour session a couple of years back) had been posting a few photos on our Facebook group. Although we cannot night fish we do tend to make maximum use of the hours available and I noticed the absence of daylight in Nigel’s shots.

With us now being into the shortest days of the year coming off the river at dusk quite suited family life as I was getting back in time for us to all eat our evening meal together. So if I was to extend my fishing time to the maximum some negotiation with “Her Indoors” would be required.

In return for preparing the veg, preparing the main meal or putting the joint in the slow cooker I was to be allowed a further hour away from home on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday came and I arrived at the river after lunch. The swim in the picture above is the first one you come to having crossed the Nene Valley Railway line and walked a hundred yards or so across a small field. It has been a good swim for me this year, having generally ignored it in past seasons apart from a couple of fruitless hours when I have dropped in on the way back to the car. The water was now lower but not down normal level and still carrying a fair amount of colour.

Below the bridge is a deep hole which slows the current making it the sort of swim that is likely to produce at this time of year. I gave it an hour but with no action decided to move on and seeing a couple of guys arriving with a barrow I made my way quickly to the next swim. This swim we call The Nursery as it is an ideal place to learn how to catch your first barbel, what you might call “a banker”. A fast gravel run drops into a deepish pool and a tight bend causes a back current with a shallow gravelly area much loved by the fry (and marauding pike) in the summer. If there were any barbel in residence and in a feeding mood I was confident I would not have to wait long so it was worth a shot for half an hour, maybe three quarters.

Again no action so a move to The Bakery, a swim named after Rob our new bailiff, and Morrisons Bakery Manager who successfully spent a good deal of time there last summer. Unfortunately this swim has changed in nature this year due to the removal of an established willow tree that had a large split in its trunk. Our landlords inspected the tree and must have come to the conclusion it was likely to fall obstructing the river because rather than perform surgery the whole tree was removed.

This was the swim that had to produce for me this evening.

I knew of two definite captures here the previous week and the week before that I spoke to some chaps who said they had lost two barbel there. We do have anglers arrive on day tickets that come inadequately prepared for what may take their bait.

It is deeper than average and runs off into an area of gravel which was deposited by the Environment Agency to form a spawning bed when they carried out an improvement scheme during the close season of 2012. Sadly the cover afforded by the willow tree is no more but given the still coloured water I was confident my presence would probably go un- noticed.

Despite my recent blanks I had confidence in my bait, cubed Spam kept in a freezer bag that has had a good spray of a sausage flavouring. I favour the garlic version but it is not always available in the Sainsburys closest to home.

I like the Pristex Splitstops to secure my bait as they’re so versatile and easy to use but when fishing into dark I prefer to use bait coils which I make by winding springy wire around a screwdriver shaft forming a small loop at one end which attaches to the hair. If I need to re-bait I can do it all by feel, simply screwing a new cube of meat onto the coil and re-casting without the need to switch a light on.

Bait Screw – simply wind on a piece of meat

On the subject of cubed meat I have seen anglers elaborately sculpting their baits into near spherical shapes or using round punches to make cylinders. Personally I have never felt the need to do this and also think it may be harder for a fish to eject a cube than a sphere but I have no firm proof of this.

In winter I like to nail my bait to the bottom as my hunch is that the barbel won’t move far if a bait passes by them whereas in the summer I believe the fish will turn and grab a bait that passes their nose resulting in those rip it off the rod rest bites.

So with less flow than previous weeks an ounce of lead above a short hooklength was swung out around two thirds of the way across into the area that would have been under the cover of the willow branches a few months previously. I figured this to be the deepest area as well.

Almost as soon as the bait was on the bottom I was getting interest in the form of little taps and knocks but these were just small fish playing with the bait. A few minutes later a good pull but the tip sprang back just as quickly. Had to be a chub, but hey I am happy with a chub after the last couple of weekends. No more interest so after a couple of minutes I wound in to check the bait, still there so straight out again. No time to mess around with only minutes left before I had to leave.

Almost to the stage when seconds were ticking away and the glowing isotope moved as the rod tip trembled and my hand was already on the rod butt when it pulled round further and a fish was on. Immediately I knew this was a barbel and I flicked on my head torch to identify a safe place to net the fish as I was on the edge of a steep drop to the water. I netted the fish and let it rest in the margins while I scrabbled around in the bag for the camera, scales, tape measure and forceps. On to the unhooking mat and no need for the forceps as the hook had already come out in the net.

I have just started using Gardner Target Specimen Hooks in barbless, having found inconsistency in the quality of my normal pattern, and this was my first capture on them. I am still undecided on the barbed /micro barbed vs. barbless debate but I do see the argument from both sides. The convenience of not having to use forceps in the dark is a big plus though and I suspect I may have damaged hooklinks leading to lost fish on a few previous occasions.

7lbs 9oz and 66cm in length but looking a bit battered with damage to the right flanks as can be seen in the photo. I pondered why this might have happened as I returned slightly downstream to return the fish where it had been netted. Dark now so home for dinner.

Not in the best condition but a welcome sight.

So having ended the run of blanks and Sunday tomorrow I felt confident of repeating my success. No need to get to the river early so I decided to arrive around an hour before darkness came place my bet on just one swim and have faith in my method. I decided on Tommy’s Peg (named after the captain of Peterborough United F.C. a keen barbel angler now playing for Wolves). Deep water following a shallow fast run, lacking in bankside cover but given the colour of the water and diminishing light I was not too bothered. Bait

was the usual chunk of Spam and as the light went I broke up a few thumbnail sized cubes and introduced them via a baitdropper to ensure they would hit the bottom in the area my hook bait was lying. The clock ticked away towards the magical period and I began to

think “now is the time” when the tell tale tremble on the rod tip signalled interest followed by the tip slamming round. A fish had hooked itself and there was heavy resistance but not of the typical barbel variety and when my combatant buried itself in the ow dying marginal weed growth I realised it had to be a chub. On with the head torch and out with the net into which I scooped the fish before it decided to bury its head in the vegetation again. A rest in the margins while the unhooking gear was prepared and as I lifted the net I realised this was a big chub and once laid out on the mat it looked like a possible 6lb’er and PB. As the light from my head torch lit up the fish I could see it was in cracking condition unlike most specimen chub which tend to be somewhat battle scarred. It was a doddle to slip out the barbless hook (getting to like them) so straight on with the weighing process still thinking this might go to the magical six.

Like most big chub it saved a lot of its fight for when it was out of the water and for some time it flapped around sending the hand on the scales up and down the graduated markings. It settled at 5lb 11oz, not as much as I had initially hoped for but none the less a fine fish from the lower Nene, sixes being a pretty rare beast. My camera lens immediately misted up in the now cold evening air so a quick shot on the phone had to do as it was time to return the fish and off for Sunday roast dinner.

5lb 11oz and fin/scale perfect

Last day of November so I wonder what will be waiting next month in the season of goodwill. Lets hope Santa and the fishing gods will be kind to us all.

I do enjoy my chub fishing especially when the temperatures drop and there’s crisp frosty grass crunching underfoot. If you travel light and move about you’ll generally have a chub or two in a short session so how do you ensure you make the most of the conditions? What I like to do is simple but very effective at most times of the year but especially so when winter days are short and generally cold, it’s also a cheap and cheerful way to introduce some attractant into the swim.

Mashed Bread

Not one for re-inventing the wheel I usually make up some bread crumb using a blender but due to my second blender in 6 months breaking on me I was without my trusty crumb and it was late on a Friday night. I had the loaf ready to go so decided instead to make some mashed bread, this can be done bankside using water from the river or the night before using bottled mineral water, try to avoid using tap water because the quality varies depending on where you live.

Step 1 – Cut the bread into small squares and place it in a suitable container, I use my bait bucket.

Step 2 – Measure out a litre of water and add a spoonful of Laguna Blue Cheese Special Edition SAC (Soak And Coat) juice, this is a concentrate so it doesn’t need a lot to have the desired effect. Mix the SAC juice in with the water until it dissolves into a milky liquid.

Step 3 -Simply pour the milky water over the bread and give it a quick mix by hand to ensure everything has a good coating, leave to stand for and hour and you’ll find the bread soaks up the water and will bind together well for ‘balling’ into your swim, it also has a very subtle smell that you may want avoid keeping in the kitchen for obvious reasons!!

When you arrive at your first swim chuck a compressed handful in and walk onto the next swim repeating the process, I’ll usually bait up 3 swims at any one time so if I do catch a chub I can rest the swim whilst I fish the next. Finding the fish can be difficult in winter so what you’re trying to do is draw them in and the combined effect of bread, which chub love anyway, and the Blue Cheese Special Edition SAC juice has them honing in on it in no time.

If you’ve got good ideas on how to get the best from such a versatile product then please let us know using the Contact Us page.

Oktober Fest, (or so I had hoped).

One of the great advantages of working in a school is the breaks from work that come round every six or seven weeks and no mine are not all paid!

So the weekend before school ended for autumn half term we had enjoyed excellent conditions on my local river Nene. There had been some much needed rain during the week and by Saturday it had dropped a little but still had some tempting colour. So after lunch on Saturday I arrived at the weirpool at the top end of one of the backwaters on our club ticket and was soon rewarded with a good pull resulting in a small barbel which went 2lbs 1oz.. I get as much pleasure in catching small barbel as I do the bigger ones because they are the future of the fishery and I would like to think this fish is a result of natural recruitment.

Due to the nature of this backwater and its small size it is rare to get more than one fish from a swim unless thy are “really on it” so after a while I started making my way back downstream stopping off at a couple of swims for three quarters of an hour or so each. Along the way I met Pete, one of the Bailiffs, and we passed the time with fishing talk before one of his dogs scalded him indicating it was time to continue their walkies.

At the lower end of the backwater is a swim that has become named “The Royalty”. There is a footbridge rather than a train bridge but the water does drop into a deep pool just below the bridge. Strangely no one had fished this swim for the first couple of months of the season but the water has been so low this year it is now possible to fish from a flat ledge which normally is under water at the bottom of a steep slope. A bit of gardening was required by one angler to cut through some tough brambles and nettles but a well worn path has resulted. I have had some success from this swim both during the day and at last knockings. Today was no different and within five minutes of the bait hitting the river bed my rod tip went round and a barbel of 6lbs 5oz was on the mat glistening in the evening sun.

There is something I call the “five minute rule” which is the phenomenon of getting a barbel within five minutes of the bait going in with no pre-baiting having taken place. It is almost as if they are waiting for you to arrive.

The following day being Sunday I was able to fit in another session and having got a couple under my belt I decided to take a look at another venue that I had not visited for a while and had not produced as well as last year which I put down to the low clear water. With the better conditions I figured it could produce but there are only a limited number of swims on this stretch but I had a particular one in mind. As I strode across the meadow it looked like I was in luck and the swim was available but as I got close I could see it was taken and so were the ones above and below. A brief chat with one chap I recognised as a competent local angler confirmed the fish were on as he had had one barbel and was experiencing a lot of bites, but where to fish?

The weirpool upstream was a possibility but this has sadly changed in nature since I first fished it two seasons ago. The main pool has become very shallow which I can only put down to the force of winter floods but with the extra water it could be an outside possibility. No joy after half an hour and I got a feeling it was not going to produce so I made my way to another swim that had produced last season.. Soon I was getting indications on the rod tip but after wrestling with an eel I decided to move again to a deep hole I had caught some chub from in the past. Nothing doing there either so it was head scratching time.

The main river has produced some large fish but usually as a result of pre baiting over time to draw them in. There is a pool below a where a lock cutting and sluice converge which I had heard of barbel being taken form but never witnessed any captures from myself. It is a nice comfy swim with a flat grass area to sit on and looking across the river I could see a nice foam line in the coloured water from the sluice about two thirds of the way across.

Out went my piece of Garlic Spam and true to the five minute rule a solid pull round of the rod tip resulted in a cracking condition barbel at 7lbs 9ozs. Two of the anglers I had seen earlier were now wandering around looking for a new swim and they kindly took the picture below.

The angler on the far bank had just arrived so my next cast had to be more downstream which I did not feel so confident about but half an hour later another barbel of 4lbs 12ozs took a liking to Garlic Spam. I had promised to be home for Sunday dinner so with that I packed my gear away and went home satisfied with a good weekend and the prospect of one more week before I could be back again.

So the end of the week came and I was straight back to the spot in the photo for a Saturday afternoon session but now the water had lost its colour and flow, not a confidence booster. Unfortunately a blank so it was back to the alternative venue the following day.

So after an early lunch I wandered along the bank armed with both a fixed spool set up and my old Youngs Rapidex centre pin mounted on the second rod. I have picked up a few bonus fish this year by dropping a bait close in on the ‘pin, in fact all my doubles this year have fallen to this set up, but that is another story.

I set up in the weirpool with a plan to make my way downstream during the afternoon. The bait on the ‘pin outfit was dropped close in and the other rod was cast across into the flow which resulted in a snag up. I set this outfit up again but decided to move a bit further up stream to keep out of the snag at which point I was aware of being watched by a chap who kindly offered to pass my tackle over the barbed wire fence. I cast out and we continued talking with him telling me about his salmon fishing exploits and agreeing that I was in a swim that shouted barbel. Just as he was making his departure the rod top started bouncing around an I told him it looked like I was about to bring an eel in. We were both surprised to see a barbel of around 12-16ozs grace the net a minute or two later. More good signs of natural recruitment.

Soon after another barbel at an ounce under 4lbs came my way then it all went quiet so time to make my way downstream. With half an hour of daylight left I decided to finish the day at a swim known as The Nursery because its a good place to learn how to catch your first barbel. What you might call a “banker swim”.

Once again the five minute rule applied and a barbel of 5lbs 12ozs landed on the mat shortly followed by a chub of around 2lbs just as the light went.

I felt I was back on it but sadly the next two days in both venues with a variety of tactics were both blank. Confidence squashed.

Despite taking up serious barbel fishing two seasons ago I have continued with my syndicate membership on a trout fishing lake and when I feel a confidence boost is required I go and do some “fluff chucking”. It was now Wednesday and the temperature had dropped as a cold front came in with the threat of rain and no fish were seen to be moving despite being around lunchtime which we have found a good time on our lake.

Then I saw a fish rise a couple of times to the left of the boat but out of casting range. This was soon followed by a rise in front of me but slightly beyond on the limit of my cast. It then rose again slightly closer so I made the longest cast I could manage and quickly tightened the line to keep in touch. Another rise then a bow wave appeared beyond the end of my fly line followed by a solid take, fish on! A really good condition rainbow trout of about a pound and a half was soon recovering in the net to be returned as I prefer to let the other members take fish for the table.

Confidence regained it was back to the river. The cold front had passed through, dropped some rain on us and unseasonable warmth had returned so I made my way back to the weirpool with high expectations. The five minute rule did not come into action today so after three quarters of an hour I started to make my way downstream only to stop myself after a few yards. Just below the weir there is a swim we call The Nettles or The Spit as it is at the end of a spit of land that is formed between the backwater and a smaller stream that joins it. In high summer the nettles reach shoulder height and to get through to the water great care and fully protective clothing would not be out of order.

I made my way as far down the spit as I could and found a space just about large enough to place my seat without my feet dangling over the edge of the bank. The bulk of the flow is close in to the bank and at the end of the spit a large clump of now dying bulrushes indicated this was likely to be a good clean gravel bottom. The bait was cast level with the bulrushes a few feet into the stream of water which boiled a little as it passed this point. I placed the rod in the rest and started tidying my gear into limited space available at which point the rod top dipped down savagely but sprang back up. Typical chub type bite but no hook up as is common with hair rigged baits. Over the next couple of hours I introduced some free offerings via a bait dropper and had another four frustratingly similar indications on the rod tip. With about quarter an hour of daylight left I felt I just had to try something different so I wound in and recast across to the far side where there was virtually no flow, the terminal tackle settled on the river bed and immediately the tip began to flicker and then pull strongly downstream. A very spirited fight ensued and a barbel came to rest in the net which then had to carried a few yards upstream to where the was enough room to lay out the mat and set up the scales which confirmed the weight at 6lbs 12ozs.

An angler on his way home in the now diminishing light kindly took the picture below on my camera.

The following day was Friday 31st October (Halloween) and due to my wife having a lunchtime appointment my day was spent with my 12 year old daughter preparing for her Spooky Party that evening.

So it was Saturday before I could get on the bank again and after performing a number of domestic duties (fishing time always comes at a price) I headed off for the river. Two cars in the car park and I counted three anglers in the first few hundred yards so I reckoned my successful swim from two days back was going to waiting for me. It is a swim I have not seen anyone in for months so could hardly believe it when I saw another angler in there which made me wonder if news had spread on the “jungle drums”.

As I had walked virtually the full length of the fishery I decided to drop in the only other swim up stream in the weirpool and see if the other chap would move after a while. My heart was not entirely in it as I wanted to be in that Nettles Swim. Catching in a new swim always gives me the urge to return and I did wonder if there might be one of the larger fish hanging out there as it had not had much fishing pressure.

Few casts into the faster water flowing through the middle of the weir pool proved biteless so I tried one a bit closer to me off the main flow figuring they might be favouring the slacker water as I had discovered two days previously. My hunch was correct and following a trembling on the tip it pulled strongly and a fish was on. A real scrapper, as they all seem to be at this time of the year and while I gave it a good rest in the net I set the camera up on a bank stick attachment for a “selfie”. Six and a half pounds of muscle was then carefully placed in the shallow water and with a big shake of the tail it succeeded in giving my lower legs a soaking.

I had only just cast out again when Rob, another of the regulars came by walking his dogs and after some fishing chat and mutual admiration of prize captures on each other’s phones he kindly offered to see if my coveted swim had now been vacated.

Result! my competitor had vacated the spot so without hesitation I wound in, assembled my gear and walked briskly to my chosen spot while Rob retrieved one of his spaniels from the river for the second time.

I settled down quickly and cast to the far side area that had previously been successful. Immediately the tip started to flicker, could that be the lead settling in the flow? No it is slack water, must be a fish, small chub maybe? No! the tip jolted round and my hand which was already hovering over the rod lifted into a fish that took off downstream with its mind set on taking me into a big bed of bulrushes. I was on 12lb mainline with a 10lb braid hooklink so was confident in applying as much pressure as my 1.5lb TC rod would deliver and although the line was peeling off the clutch it certainly slowed its rate of progress. Again a very spirited fight and I was wondering if it could be one of the big girls but once it surfaced I could see it was in the same size class as the previous fish. A lot of surface splashing went on as I dipped the net a number of times before the fish slid over the rim. Weighed (6lbs 6oz), measured (63cm) and returned I had a hunch the commotion would probably have put paid to this swim, certainly for an hour or two so I wandered off downstream to try my luck in a couple of others. Half an hour in each and no action so it was back to The Nettles to see if I could tempt another in the limited daylight time left. A few casts around the swim and no action so I decided to try close to some bulrushes just slightly upstream. Tap, tap, tap, tap followed by the same but stronger made me lift the rod in the expectation of a small chub but given the bend in the rod this was not a small chub. It went straight into the backside cover, typical chub reaction and with some coaching away from potential snags holding the rod out at arms I had my net under the best chub (4lbs 7oz) I have caught this season. They have all been incidental catches while barbel fishing as my chub campaign does not normally start until we get a turn in the weather which was unseasonably warm at around 19 degrees C on the first of November.

Sunday followed and as I had used all my favours up during the week it was family duties including doing the Sunday roast and spending time with the children before we all had to return to school the following day.

So in all a mixed week with some successful days and some not so but that is fishing and if we just went along and caught every time where would be the challenge and the interest. The weeks was unseasonably warm with the Friday (Halloween being the warmest on record). While the warm weather continues the barbel quest will continue but once temperatures start dipping which must be soon now the chub will be my target and I have plans centred around some new paste recipes.